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Socialist Party of Serbia (Political party, Serbia)

Socijalisticka partija Srbije - SPS

Flag of the Socialist Party of Serbia - Image by Tomislav Todorović, 2 February 2009

Flag of the SPS
Flag of the SPS, 1992-2003
Flag of the SPS, 1990-1992
Yugoslav United Left (Jugoslovenska udruzena levica)

See also:

Flag of the SPS

Article 4 of the current statutes of the SPS, adopted during its Sixth Congress held on 18 January 2003 in Belgrade, say:

The symbol of the Socialist Party of Serbia shall be a stylized red-blue-white rose.
The flag of the Socialist Party of Serbia shall be red with the Party emblem in the centre.
The ceremonial flag of the SPS shall be white with the Party emblem in the centre.
The emblem of the Party shall have the letters "SPS" or "Socialist Party of Serbia" inscribed below the Party symbol.

The ceremonial flag seems to have never been used so far and possibly there are no existing copies of it. Only the "ordinary" one appears to be used. The emblem is actually placed on a white square in the centre of the flag, a detail not specified by the Statutes, but probably added to the design so as to make the emblem better visible against the red field.

The first appearance of this flag that I have recorded was in November 2003, during the campaign for the parliamentary elections which took place next month. In one TV-debate during the campaign, Ivica Dačić, the then Chairman of the Main Board of the party (and current party President), officially announced that this was the new official flag of the SPS.
The flag replaced the previous one very slowly and there have never been many of its copies in use. Along with it, unofficial flags with the emblem in the canton and party name inscribed in the lower fly were also used; these either had white field and black inscription (see above) or red field and white inscription. The last of these has replaced the official one almost completely for some time, but the red flag with the emblem on a white square remains the official flag and is recognized as such by the party opponents as well: in July and August 2008, during the protests against the arrest and extradition of Radovan Karadžić, former President of the Republic of Serbska, a copy of this flag was carried, turned upside-down, and burned down by the protesters in front of the SPS headquaters in Belgrade, as a protest against the "treason" committed by this party (the party President is currently the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Interior, so he is held responsible for the action as such).

Tomislav Todorović, 31 January 2009

Flag of the SPS, 1992-2003

Flag of the SPS, 1992-2003 - Image by Ivan Sarajčić & Tomislav Todorović, 31 January 2009

Article 4 of the statutes of the party, adopted during its Second Congress held on 23-24 October 1992 in Belgrade, say:

The symbol of the Socialist Party of Serbia shall be a red rose.
The flag of the Socialist Party of Serbia shall be the Serbian tricoloured flag with the Party emblem.
The emblem of the Party shall have the letters "SPS" inscribed below the Party symbol.

Mark Sensen, 10 June 2000

The light gray part of the logotype should actually be white, with a black fimbriation, but is usually shown as here, probably to make it more visible against a white background when the logotype is used as a free-standing emblem. The colours of the logotype are consequently those of the Serbian national flag.

This flag was frequently attacked by the opponents of the party as a violation of the state Constitution, which forbade deriving flags from the national flag by adding any charges to it. This caused its occasional informal replacements with the unofficial designs, usually white with the emblem in the canton and the party name inscribed in black in three lines in the lower fly. From time to time, these flags were replacing the official one almost completely, but the official flag was always brought back into use after some time. The flag was officially abandoned in 2003, but some of its existing copies were kept in use as late as in July 2008, when I saw them for the last time on the television, and it is quite possible that they might be seen again in near future.

Tomislav Todorović, 31 January 2009

Flag of the SPS, 1990-1992

Flag of the SPS, 1990-1992
Left, as used - Image by Mark Sensen & Tomislav Todorović, 3 April 2006
Right, as prescribed by the party statutes - Image by Mark Sensen, 10 June 2000

The flag which the SPS used in real life from 1990 to 1992 has differed from its description in the party statutes (see below), as it was not charged with the party symbol (red five-pointed star with the border in colours of Serbian flag), but with the party emblem, which differed from the symbol by addition of party name initials SPS, in white Cyrillic letters (СПС), in centre of the red star. (Actually, the symbol has never appeared either on the flags or as the stand-alone sign.) The fimbriation, which separated outermost red border of the emblem from the same-coloured background, was not specified by the statutes, but was always gold.
The flag was officially abolished in 1992, but its existing copies were kept in use until as late as 1997, when they were seen on the TV for the last time.

Tomislav Todorović, 3 April 2006

Article 4 of the statutes of the party, adopted during its First Congress held on 16 July 1990 in Belgrade, say:

The symbol of the Party shall be a red five-pointed star with a three-colour flag of Serbia in the background.
The Party shall have its flag and emblem.
The flag shall be red with a Party symbol in the upper left corner.
The emblem of the Party shall have the letters "SPS" inscribed in the centre of the Party symbol.

Mark Sensen, 10 June 2000

Yugoslav United Left (Jugoslovenska udruzena levica)

Flag of the Yugoslav United Left - Image by Ivan Sarajčić, 28 December 1998

The flag of the Yugoslav United Left is white with a stylized blue-white-red bird and the letters JUL in the middle.

Ilija Vucević, 28 December 1998